"Christmas is coming. . . .

. . . the goose is getting fat,
Won't you please put a penny
in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny,
a ha' penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha' penny,
then God bless you!"

This cute rhyme runs through my head often (and sometimes out my lips) this time of year.

I may be a bit premature, but I don't care. Yesterday I listened to Christmas music on Pandora radio. I also went to Walmart and discovered that they are all decked out for Christmas. AND, I saw my first Christmas commercial. So, I guess I'm not the only one excited! Plus, I don't have a lot of decorations for Thanksgiving, so it's almost like a let-down to take down the Halloween. I'm looking forward to putting up Christmas. It's fun to really discover what I like - I weed out every year. Just 50 more days.

Oh, yeah. And I've been putting off building a fire all day. It's been cold. I'm wearing a jacket and socks - my real winter wear. I think I knew in the back of my mind that if I built a fire, I'd be building fires for months. I'm the fire-builder in the family, usually because I'm the one home in the a.m. to do it. But, can you believe we've been able to go this long without one!? So, I finally gave in and built one about an hour ago. Now, we'll be nice and cozy.

By the way, that is our new hearth that Kannon and I built. He built the wood part, we worked together on the tiling. We're pretty happy with it.